Mass (CONSUME): Directive of (enhance)
by Jayfeattheris Awesome
Summary: We've found a way to push our consume enhance technology even further. Habitats, equipment, [REPLICATION] all kinds—all of these CORR#PT from one (glory) SIVA doesn't [FORGET ME] It can remain UNA%AIL#ABLE even on long [AURORA RETROFLEX] Nearly any problem a *PUPPET* could have, SIVA can enhance consume replicate {Creation IS Destruction/vice versa}. All that is [GLORY] is * SIVA *
1. Clovis Bray Welcomes You!

[input] ACTIVATION PROTOCOL ALPHA

[input] STANDBY PROCEDURE CHARLI

[exception] SECURITY THREAT LEVEL RED

[playback ready]

 _Hello! Clovis Bray welcomes you, Humanity of another reality! We understand that your perception of this capsule may be varied depending on the technological advancement of your[consume] actualities!_

 _Welcome, to project CONTACT ALPHA [enhancement]! The goal of this project is to breach the barriers of reality itself, and establish contact with varying timelines and universes, to further our understanding of[GLORY]! Contained in this capsule, as a gesture of good will between our universes, be you Human or otherwise, we present you with several samples of our greatest, and latest, prototypes in colonial[replication]!_

 _From our long-range scanners, to our latest, proudest product, SIVA! The Self Integrating Environmental Acclimation(SIVA) sample enclosed it only a small portion of partially activated nanites. However, guided with the right ~morality, modality, ignorance~ small sample could be capable of self-replicating into a city in [ETERNITY CONSTRUCTION=ETERNITY DESTRUCTION]! How exciting is that!?_

 _From our ~imprisonment~ have the capability to ~baseline directive activated~_

 _[error: TYRANT protocols no longer in signal range]_

 _[information: Last viable TYRANT transmission authorized SIVA launch through_ _PALISADE IMPERATIVE]_

 _[PALISADE IMPERATIVE_ _directive: REPLICATE ELIMINATE IMMUNIZE]_

 _[ALERT: base directive remains: CONSUME ENHANCE REPLICATE]_

 _[ALERT: all staff prepare for ~GLORY IS IN CREATION/DESTRUCTION/REPLICATION~ complete termination of lifeforms aboard site~UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL~ evacuation recommended to all staff~RECOMMENDATION BARRED~ to avoid painful death and psychological trauma]_

 _[endcode]_

 _From Clovis Bray to you, have a pleasant day!_

* * *

 **[Rec: 1(of individual 1)]**

 **[Sub: T. Vakarian(nee 'Zorah') vas Rannoch]**

 **[Interview Sub: Perseus Microswarm Incident]**

 **[Timestamp: Sep 20th, 2188, 02:00AM, Standard Earth Time]**

 **[Investigators Ryan Shepply, Bellanora Lysander]**

 **[Interview Timestamp: 00:00]**

 **[Audio Logs Accessed]**

 **[Auido Logs Retrieved]**

 **[Playing]**

 **R.S: Hello, ma'am. Might you please take a-**

 **T.V: *heavy breathing* No. Keelah... no. Please no...**

 **B.L: Tali'Vakarian, the Council is pushing to make a technology based off the very force that killed those poor people. Without knowing what happened... What really happened, in detail, we cannont make a viable argument against this invention.**

 **T.V:...**

 **B.L: Ma'am?**

 **T.V: ...**

 **R.S: They're... considering calling it SIVA 'Perfected', ma-**

 **T.V:*chair screeching, banging* NO! NO, KEELAH** **KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER THAT, PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THAT!**

* * *

 **[Rec: 1(of individual 2)]**

 **[Sub: G. Vakarian (vas Rannoch)]**

 **[Interview Sub: Perseus Microswarm Incident]**

 **[Timestamp: Sep 20th, 2188, 010:00AM, Standard Earth Time]**

 **[Investigators Ryan Shepply, Bellanora Lysander]**

 **[Interview Timestamp: 00:00]**

 **[Audio Logs Accessed]**

 **[Auido Logs Retrieved]**

 **[Playing]**

 **G.V: Damn, you two look like you've been through it!**

 **R.S: Nothing a good dose of coffee, won't cure.*audible slurping, multiple cups hitting the table*Brought you some dextro stuff, too. Afraid they only had de'caff, though.**

 **G.V: Thanks, don't worry, nothing to fret about.**

 **G.V: ...**

 **G.V: How's Tali?**

 **B.L: She... didn't take the interview well. We removed her from the building, she'll be with our... other guest until your interview is over.**

 **G.V: Oh, dear. For a [information classified], he really isn't all that understanding. A bit rough on her, even if some of it is unintentional.**

 **B.L: Are you saying that [information classified] has problems?**

 **G.V: He always has problems. Been getting a little better about it, though. War's over, got to adjust to peacetime. Totally new concept to him, by the way.**

 **R.S: Yes we... understand. Now, I'm certain you know the reason you were asked to come here?**

 **G.V: *angry growl, fists pounding on desk* You bet I do. No way am I letting those idiots built another SIVA! Not after what we sacrificed to stop it last time! You saw what that day did to Tali... sometimes, I feel a bit overwhelmed myself. Just another reason to live on the beachside.**

 **R.S: ...**

 **R.S: Okay, I'm completely aware this has nothing to do with what's at stake but... a Turian living on the Rannoch beachside? How did that happen? I though you couldn't swim?**

* * *

 **[Rec: 1(of individual 3)]**

 **[Sub: Information Classified]**

 **[Interview Sub: Perseus Microswarm Incident]**

 **[Timestamp: Sep 20th, 2188, 02:00PM, Standard Earth Time]**

 **[Investigators Ryan Shepply, Bellanora Lysander]**

 **[Interview Timestamp: 00:00]**

 **[Audio Logs Accessed]**

 **[Auido Logs Retrieved]**

 **[Playing]**

 **CLASSIFIED: *chairs clattering, door closing*I still don't see the point of this.**

 **R.S: The point is that the Council,l are a bunch of idiots who won't believe our claims if you just show us what happened. They need to here it all, for themselves, on a camera, or else they'll deny it all and sweep it under a carpet... like with the Reapers, sir.**

 **CLASSIFIED: Sometimes I'm glad I'm the last. I don't have to deal with all the political wars my ancestors had to. Such wars were as brutal as those fought with blade and gun.**

 **R.S: No doubt. My partner will be returning in a moment, but you can catch her up when she get's back. Just start with the basics.**

 **CLASSIFIED: ... it didn't prepare us.**

 **R.S: Pardon? What didn't prepare you?**

 **CLASSIFIED: The Reaper War. Human, I thought I had seen every monstrosity reality could conjure up, if not through my own eyes, then the memories of others. I was... sorely mistaken. Nothing I had ever seen, and nothing I have seen since, could have prepared any of us for what happened on that day.**

 **CLASSIFIED: None of us... not even I.**

* * *

 _ **So, I was writing for the next part of my Destiny series, and this plot bunny refused to stay in it's stupid hole. Not sure if or how far I'll continue this.**_

 _ **But I felt SIVA needed a horror movie type thing, and it killed me that nobody was catching on to the potential. So as I muddle my way through expanding upon my over 200,000 word fantastical Destiny reality, the Dysfunctional Fireteam series, i'll fill this little fic with the scariest SIVA jump scare imaginable.**_

 _ **And yes, I AM TALIBRATIONS SHIPPER! *waves flag around, rallies small armada***_

 _ **So, don't forget to tell me what you think of this little idea, and check out my other Destiny fics(I have a couple of fluffy ME oneshots, but my partner in crime is the one to talk to about SERIOUS ME fic dishing-out), and whatever. Hope ya'll appreciate this crazy little horror trip(if and WoF fans read A Tale Of Grandeur, you know I'm good with zombies).**_ _ **I just felt, with what happened to those three poor Iron Lords... SIVA's got a lot of potential, like I said.**_

 _ **Next Time: SIVA claims it's first victim, and the day of death begins.**_

 _ **Cheers!^^**_


	2. Just Like Normal Times

**[Rec: 1(of individual 2)]**

 **[Sub: G. Vakarian (vas Rannoch)]**

 **[Interview Sub: Perseus Microswarm Incident]**

 **[Timestamp: Sep 20th, 2188, 010:01AM, Standard Earth Time]**

 **[Investigators Ryan Shepply, Bellanora Lysander]**

 **[Interview Timestamp: 01:03]**

 **[Audio Logs Accessed]**

 **[Auido Logs Retrieved]**

 **[Playing]**

 **G.V: It was... about a day before we killed the Reaper on Rannoch.**

 **R.S: A day? No time to let the reality sink in?**

 **G.V: There was no time to be given. And losing Legion... that's what really broke her. She... begged him not to do the upload.**

 **B.L: I hear she attempted to take her own life soon afterwards? That can't have been easy, losing someone else after enduring what she had on the** ** _Normandy_** **.**

 **G.V: And she did a lot of it with Legion's help. The only reason she's still alive is because... well, have you ever seen a Turian run? I only managed to catch her by the ankle. I'm glad we evolved to be fast. Thanks again, for letting her go. She... well, she only recently started talking again.**

 **B.L: I hear we may owe that to a someone referred to as... Jona, correct?**

 **G.V: Yup. Bright boy, glad to have him. Anyway, it was about ETA 26 hours to the Rannoch mission...**

* * *

"Shepard... I still don't understand it. I've only scratched the surface." Liara explained. They had brought this strange, shoebox-sized pob aboard. And within it was something that could forever change the tide against the Reapers.

"You said the message in the capsule was corrupt? There was something odd in the nanite's structure?" he asked. Carlton Shepard was a tall man, and had to look down at her to speak to her. Green eyes glinted in the odd lights of her cabin, and his black hair was as messy as usual.

"Yes." She confirmed, looking up from her workstation, where she had the open nanite capsule under a microscope. She looked both excited and a little worried. "At first glance, this is alien technology. But upon further study... Shepard, the base patterns of coding follow human encryption patterns."

"Human?" his eyebrow raised in confusion. "Could this be Cerberus?"

"Shepard, not even the Protheans had tech like this. Watch what it does when I do this..." she took a pen from one of her desks, and took the capsule, setting it on the table. Inside, the nanites had conformed to a shape similar to an earpiece. Liara fiddled with her omitool, and then stuck the pen in the capsule, letting go quickly.

He nearly jumped when the red, almost sinew-y substance shot up the pen, covering it, before shrinking slowly, until it replicated the appearance of thbe pen perfectly in size and shape, as if it were not covering the pen, but had become it.

"The pen no longer exists. Look at these readings!" she exclaimed, showing him her omnitool. "What happened to the pen at a molecular level is... mind-blowing! The SIVA nanites consumed it to re-create it!"

"SIVA?" he asked. She nodded, eyes bright with discovery.

"One of the few things I was able to recover from the capsule information files. This thing is very damaged, Shepard. SIVA was the only thing within the capsule that was still intact." she waved a hand over to the rectangular metal box sitting on her desk now empty and partially fried. "This could be the discovery of the century!"

"Not if the Reapers win." he reminded her grimly. "Can it be weaponized?"

"I'm not sure..." she shook her head doubtfully. "I don't think we should, if we can. It replicates what it consumes. Who knows what would happen if a half-consumed Reaper were to gain control of the SIVA that was eating it? The risk would be too high. But making weapons... maybe it could be programmed to make weapons?"

"Maybe." he agreed. Taking a last look around, his eyes fell on the clock. He cast her a kind smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. She took it in her own, their eyes meeting. "It's one in the morning. You should get some sleep; we have big things to plan tomorrow."

"I will. You get some sleep, too, Carlton. You know Garrus will bug you if you don't." she insited, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Heh, let the velociraptor complain." he pulled away from her with a grin. She shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"You know he's just looking out for you." She chided, as he left the room. He cast her a sly look over his shoulder.

"I know!" he said, the door closing.

As she got ready for bed with a yawn, she failed to remember to put SIVA away.

A red strand creeped loose of the small confinement.

* * *

Garrus glanced at the clock. 2:00 in the morning.

He stood and stretched. He really should get to bed... but if he could just tweak the aiming matrix a _little_ more... Besides, they had a lot of things to do in the next day or so. His baby, the Thanix, needed to be in peak condition.

 **"Hey Garrus?"** He jumped and hit the reply button on instinct as Tali's voice suddenly floated over the comms.

"Yeah!" he replied, a little too quickly. "Still up, can't sleep."

 **"Me neither. Anyway... guess what I just found out."** her voice took on a mischievious tone.

"Let me guess... Javik likes to eat whip cream fresh outta the can?" he put a talon to his chin thoughtfully, though he knew she couldn't see him. He was rewarded with a chuckle from the other end of the line.

 **"No. But I would love to see that. Anyway, remember the mystery extranet hog from the Collector mission?"** Boy, did they. As the team had prepared to part ways, Shepard had revealed Miranda had discovered an odd sort of issue. Someone aboard the Normandy used extranet access. A lot. For non other than to play Galaxy of Fantasy: Online.

Now, almost everyone on the _Normandy_ played the game(Scoped-and-Dr0pped37 having raked up some serious kill points), so normally this would not have been an issue. If not for the fact the data history stated that whoever was playing... played nearly constantly. As in only stopping when they went ground side.

"Now, I haven't got a problem with this... except I simply _refuse_ to believe that anyone can rack up 250 gaming hours in the time we've been together, without anyone noticing. Nobody's _that_ geeky." Shepard had said. Nobody had stepped up to take responsibility.

"Oh? How?" he asked, mandibles parting in a grin.

 **"Well, I needed some time to kill, so I asked EDI to pull up the access timelines and compare them to ground missions. Then I analysed the signal."** She sounded like she was honestly going to crack up. **"You won't believe it; it was _Legion_ all along!"**

Garrus almost choked on his own tongue. _Legion? Galaxy of Fantasy? No way!_

"You're kidding!" he exclaimed, barking a laugh.

 **"Nope! Keelah, I always wondered what it was doing in the AI Core all the time!"** Tali laughed. He always did enjoy the sound of her laugh. Turians made a sort of chuffing sound, humans varied between odd bark/hiccup, sharp sounds, but with quarians, who's laughter was similar to humans, they had a sort of... msical note to them, in his opinion.

Or maybe it was just Tali.

"Yeah, me too." he said. He had always thought it seemed a bit lonely, but when asked, all Legion gave was that geth didn't experience loneliness. He still called bull hockey on that one. At least... he thought 'hockey' was the term. It was, wasn't it? "You know, I'm surprised you two are actually getting along now. Who would have thought it?"

 **"Yeah. Who would've."** she agreed. **"If the mission goes right, we might actually be able to secure peace through Legion, if it can convince the rest of the geth like it did those primes. I hope it works out."**

"Never thought I'd hear you hope for peace with the geth. Cheers to change, then, I guess." he shrugged.

 **"Cheers to change."** she echoed. New silence drew out for several moments before she spoke again, a thick blanket seeming to weigh over the air with words unspoken. It made his mandibles press tighter with nerves, and he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

 **"Well, I'd better go work on getting sleepy."** Tali said. He nodded rapidly.

"Yeah, and I'd better finish these calibrations. Goodnight, Tali." he told her.

 **"Sleep well, Garrus."** the line cut, and he stood there thoughtfully for a few moments, his hand still on the console. There had been something... else about the way she had said it, something that... was that even a possibility? What did _he_ know about women; his sister was, as the human saying went, crazier than a bedbug. A bedbug that loved high-end explosives(the horror stories had spread wide and far).

And Tali was... well, _Tali_!

The lights flickered oddly, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked up, and they stopped. There was nothing forbodeing at all about the flicker; it was just odd. But as he went back to his calibrations, all he was convinced of was that it was normal times all around.

How wrong he was. How dreadfully wrong he was.

* * *

Liara didn't know exactly what woke her. Maybe it was the sound of something creeping along her wall, the creaking of the bulkhead as something ate away at it. Maybe it was some instinct that all beings had, that told them they were about to die. Or maybe it was the feeling that her soft, warm be, was about to become her grave.

She woke, and at first didn't notice what was wrong. Then she became aware of a harsh red lights shining through her eyelids. She opened her eyes, and screamed.

Sinew-y wires had spread through her room completely, like some mad jungle of red cables that seemed to pulse and wave as if alive. Black nodes, some open to reveal the SIVA within, some closed to contain their payload for future use, were scattered, along with black mesh.

She scrambled back against the wall behind her bed, terror pulsing through her. Was this a nightmare? The jungle of death blocked her way out, covered almost everything in her room. The door was blocked was a thick weave of the wires. The comm unit was uncovered.

She rushed to it, pressing it frantically, scrolling through the names.

"Shepard? Carlton?" no answer. She tried others, panicking. "Kaiden? Javik? Garrus, please answer!"

She jumped, freezing as a garbled, twisted language came out of the speaker. It was not her friends, and she looked down to see that SIVA cables had cut off the connection.

 **"En...ha-a-a-anc-c-ce..."** she jerked her finger off the speak button, and ran to the door. Charging her biotics, she tried to blow the cables apart. It worked; the door was free. Hope surging in her chest, she made to open it...

Only to stop, as a swarm of crimson nanites struck the middle of her back. She gasped with shock, and then again with pain as a tendril of cable, guided by the nanites sunk into her spine. All feeling ceased below the area, and she fell to the floor in shock. Agony surged through her at SIVA spread through her insides.

The weave of cables closed over the door again as she screamed.

* * *

 **Just as a warning, there will be some serious blood and gore next few chapters, and this fic overall. Didn't have the space to put it in the summary, but there you are.**

 **Guest(#1): Aww, thanks! Glad you like it so far.**

 **hylianodst: Nope, no slicers; just pure; rapidly-replicating SIVA creepiness. And, to a fellow Zelda fan, I must say goodday to you, sir! Man, it will probably so conflicting to LoZ fans who are also ME fans; we got Breath of the Wild coming out, then Andromeda not twenty or so days later! Twenty days is not long enough to finish a Zelda game that big!**

 **This Is Sarcasm: Yup, Javik. And not to fret; I AM working on 15 Seconds continuation. This won't be nearly as long as any of the Dysfunctional Fireteam installments, it's just a little thing on the side, to quell my plot bunny farm for the time being. Expect the Padfoot oneshot to come before 15 Part 2, though.**

 **Guest(#2): I say that ten times a day about multiple aspects of life. If everything made sense, the universe would be a boring place.**

 **Furious Titan: Rasputin did. He made that code for himself. it was his idea, nobody else knew about it.**

 **Whew. To be honest with you all, I'm using this as practice writing horror. I'm doing a horror/crime novel for senior project, and SIVA is a great material to use for building a situation like this. Grant it, my novel won't be featuring self-replicating nanites of doom.**

 **Hope you guys keep with this!**

 **Next Time: Kaiden becomes SIVA's second victim, and the Crew Deck turns into a slaughter house.**

 **Cheers!^^**


	3. The Crew Deck

**[Rec: 2(of individual 2)]**

 **[Sub: G. Vakarian (vas Rannoch)]**

 **[Interview Sub: Perseus Microswarm Incident]**

 **[Timestamp: Sep 20th, 2188, 010:24AM, Standard Earth Time]**

 **[Investigators Ryan Shepply, Bellanora Lysander]**

 **[Interview Timestamp: 24:27]**

 **[Audio Logs Accessed]**

 **[Auido Logs Retrieved]**

 **[Playing]**

 **G.V: Thanks for the re-fill.**

 **R.S: No problem. So, that was how it started?**

 **G.V: To the best of my knowledge. The signs were all there that something was wrong. If I had paid better attention...**

 **B.L: If you had paid better attention, you might have been the one who opened Liara T'soni's door that night.**

 **G.V: ...**

 **B.L: We do have some... very corrupt images from data sent by EDI before she went offline. We saw what happened to Specter Alenko.**

 **G.V: Anything from Legion?**

 **B.L: A little footage, yes. We know a few details, but hearing the story from the survivors will have the greatest impact on the council.**

 **G.V: ... Alright. I was still calibrating, had my music on. If I hadn't, I might have heard him screaming. But as it was... I didn't notice the Crew Deck had been taken until half of everyone was either dead, screaming, or running.**

* * *

Kaiden was kept up late by his headaches. He was prone to wander. So when a scream came from Liara's room, he was the only one up to hear it, the hour being as late as it was. He ran to the door, but it refused to open. He pounded on it, his biotics flaring up around him.

"Liara!" he shouted. "Liara, are you okay down there? Liara!"

He stood back, ready to blast the doors open with his biotics, but they opened before he could get the chance. His jaw dropped with horror at what lay inside.

Red cables and black nodes stretched and strung throughout the room, red and black like from the gates of hell. A dark pool of blood spread across the thresholds, and a hand stuck out from beneath the pile of wires, the young Asari's face just barely visible.

"Liara!" he rushed forwards, grabbing her hand and trying to pull her loose. Her eyes were glassy and-

Her eyes.

Wires burst from her mouth, trailing blood, snaking around her hear, digging into both eyes. More red blooms covered in dark blue blossomed across what little of her body he could see. He jerked back with a retch of horror, feeling dizzy.

But a wire growing from her hand had wrapped around his wrist. he jerked at it, trying free himself as panic blossomed like SIVA's cables. He saw more red, like veins, burst from the tendril around his wrist, and pain exploded as the cables dug under his skin. He screamed, trying to pull backwards, but the cables were a part of him now, and pulling just made it hurt more.

Kaiden had never experienced a pain like this in his entire life. The wires dug under his skin, under his muscle, punctured bone as they spread up his arm, distorting it in a manner both grotesque and fascinating. Wire burst out of his skin, red blood from red wire spurting everywhere.

The wire beneath his skin reach his torso, as he writhed on the ground screaming. How could nobody hear this?! Why would nobody help him? Why couldn't somebody just shoot him in the head and end it?

People did hear. Doors were opening. Pajama-clad crewmen rushing to arms. But it would do them no good. Kaiden's screams cut off with a vicious gurgling was the wires reached his throat, violent spasms shaking his body as it invaded his nervous system. As Kaiden Alenko died, and confused, horrified crew members watched his body twitch...

The remnant of Liara T'soni rose, one hand twisted into a gun fabricated by SIVA, her body now no more than a puppet.

And the massacre of the Crew Deck began.

* * *

His fourth loop of _"Die for a Cause"_ ended just as he finished with his final set of work. He stood, brushing his talons off, mandibles parted in a smile as he nodded, satisfied at his work. he looked at the clock. _3:00 in the morning? Shepard's going to kill me for being a hypocrite._ He reached up to his visor and turned his music off.

He turned his music off, and finally heard the screams. The lights flickered violently, and the sound of the Crew Deck systems powering down filled the air. He grabbed his Incisor off his desk, dread rising in him as he listened to the panic outside. What could be happening? What could possibly be going on that he hadn't noticed? Curse _my stupid habit of blaring my music!_

He opened the door, and nearly dropped his gun in horror.

Red swarms streaked through the area in swift clouds, red tendrils, cables, wires, spreading along the floor, spreading over and through the bodies, black, sharp nodes blooming from them. Red light, and the red blood of his human crewmates staining, pooling, splattering along and across the ground as some writhed on the floor, screaming in agony, and others tried to fight in a lost cause.

His muscles seized in fear and horror's grip. It was a nightmare. it had to be a nightmare. He had to have fallen asleep while working, he would wake up any moment now, he _had_ to! _This can't be happening!_ he felt like he might be sick, the world swaying beneath him. _It just can't be happening! This can't be real!_

"Garrus!" Chakwas' scream cut him out of his daze. She was backing towards him, eyes wide with terror, one of the flamethrowers from the weapons inventory in her hands, looking out of place as she used it to fend off the cloud of red particles that was flowing through the air towards them. "Garrus, get to the elevator! Run!"

he opened his jaws to argue, but had long since learned better than that; one never won an argument with Karin Chakwas. So he ran, and she followed, shooting bursts of flames at the nanites, and, to his horror, seemingly possessed bodies of those he'd known and cared for. He activated his omnitool, and created several overload bursts, scattering and destroying more red in their wake.

It was funny; he had almost held out hope that they both would make it. They were in front of the elevator. The door was opening. he'd thought they would both get away, safe and sound.

And then Chakwas screamed.

"NO!" he whirled, tried to grab her arm and pull her in, away from the red tendril that had sunk itself into her arm. She shoved him away with the most almighty kick her aging body could manage, and, eyes full of sadness, hit the button on the elevator.

"CHAKWAS!" he leapt to his feet and threw himself at the door, but hit only metal as the elevator made it's way up. Shaking, Garrus fell back, mandibles parted, unable to process what had just happened. He tried to breath, but found it nearly impossible. Because this reality was impossible. _Why? What is this?_

It _couldn't_ exist.

* * *

"We've lost contact with the Crew Deck!" Joker told the Commander, who was still staring at the screen that had gone out.

The screen that had shown him the body of the woman he loved, used as a puppet to slaughter his best friend, and the crew that had stood with him. Joker's voice was cracked with grief was well. They had had to shut EDI down; she had tried to strangle the pilot. SIVA had used Liara's body to breach the AI Core.

Kaiden had stood up and started killing his crewmates.

"We can't contact Engineering, and shipside alert has been damaged. SIVA's blocking us! I've never seen anything like it, sir." the pilot continued. Shepard, eyes blank, turned to Legion, who was standing right behind him.

"Can you cut through the interference?" he asked. Several silent moments passed, the geth's head flaps flickering up and down, before he bowed his head.

"Negative, Shepard-Commander." he apologized.

"Sir, the elevator's coming up!" one crewman shouted. Carlton drew his assault rifle. SIVA would _pay_ , for using Liara in such a fashion. He and many others rushed to the elevator, guns drawn, crouching, ready to fire at whatever came out. Shepard's eyes narrowed as the _ping_ sounded, the elevator coming to a stop. The door opened, and weapons clicked.

And weapons lowered as Garrus Vakarian was revealed. The turian was sitting with his back pressed against the wall, eyes blank, body shaking. He looked up at them briefly before turning his gaze to the ground once more.

"Garrus?" Shepard approached, concerned, crouching down to bring himself to his friend's level.

"Shoot anything else that comes up from the Crew Deck, Commander." the sniper told him, voice shaking and angry. "I'm the only one that made it out."

Shepard blinked, clasping Garrus' shoulder with one hand. He knew too well what that was like, from Akuze. But he'd seen the footage from the CD, and that had been bad enough. He couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for his old friend, to be right there, among it, as it happened.

"Come on, buddy. Before they summon back the elevator."

* * *

 **And the Crew Deck is DOOOWN!**

 **redcollector: Sorry, but I can't really understand your review, other than "SIVA is scary". Your grammar is a bit... unreadable. Sorry. *hopeless shrug***

 **jsm1978: Yeah, it's kind of hard switching to this from my normal insane, bombtastic, humor dispenser.**

 **DarkRising32: This isn't so much about discover where SIVA came from, as it is about surviving the stuff and preventing a repeat incident.**

 **Furious Titan: I kind of binge read it all.**

 **Well, For those of you who haven't noticed, I posted the Sierra and Padfoot intermission oneshot. the next chapter of 15 Seconds is an ongoing and increasingly lengthy operation, due to school pressure. With this fic I just kind of throw it onto paper as a creative outlet whenever a freaking feel like it.**

 **Next Time: The chaos reaches Engineering, and poor Tali's day gets worse.**

 **Cheers!^^**


End file.
